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Fun with Pita Pizza (15-Minute Cheater’s Pizza)
15-minute cheater’s pizza using pita bread
Ever since I discovered making pizza the cheater’s way a year ago, my family had stopped relying on pizza delivery. My 15 minutes short-cut pizza – using pita bread (instead of making pizza dough from scratch) and readymade sauce (such as pasta sauce) – comes to the rescue whenever I crave for pizza but have not much willpower to cook. There were times when I’m so laid back that I don’t feel like going out at all (that includes going out for meals), and I just want to relax at home doing “nothing” – meaning indulging in passive activities like watching a movie or playing console games. Lazy times warrant lazy fixes. I want something fast to prepare (5 minutes), easy to cook (10 minutes), easy to clean up (get someone else to do it hehe) and at the same time, not too shabby.
A slice of mushroom pita pizza
Even though these pita pizzas are a short cut, we find them decent and in fact, comparable if not better to the ones that we ordered via delivery (but maybe we’re just biased hehe). And this is a great way to serve a quick meal any time of the day (lunch, dinner, supper) and even for one person (I like to make a mini pita pizza if I’m home alone or suddenly hungry).
Hawaiian pizza on wholemeal pita bread (before being baked)
I’m definitely not denouncing the proper & traditional way of making fresh pizza dough and sauce – I love eating them especially at authentic Italian or Mexican joints. But since the quality of home delivery pizzas are pretty blah (to me) most of the time, I like this cheaper, yummier and easy alternative when I’m home. And I’m having lots of fun experimenting with all kinds of pizza toppings.
Vegetarian pita pizza (bell peppers & olives)
With the following basic step-by-step recipe, you can try out different pizza flavours by experimenting with ingredients on your own. If you discover any creative ideas for pizza sauce & toppings, share your recipe with me at the comments section :) Stay tuned for my recipes for the different pizza flavours featured on this page – they will be posted as individual recipes on the blog and the links will be compiled at the end of this post.
Ingredients
1) Pita Bread
Seafood Pita Pizza using paper thin pita bread
Seafood Pita Pizza using 1cm thick pita bread
Pita bread comes in different sizes and thickness.
Most of them can be stored in the freezer compartment for many months and you just have to thaw them before using. You can use tortilla too but that’s another post ;)
2) Sauces (Base)
Mushrooms pita pizza using Campbell’s cream of mushroom (instead of normal pizza sauce) as a base
Besides using pizza sauce, you can also use tomato-based pasta sauce. You can also go creative by experimenting with other sauces such as bbq sauce, pesto and even cream of mushroom.
Freezing excess pasta sauce in ice cube tray
Here’s a tip for you if you can’t finish a bottle of sauce at one go – I freeze the excess sauce in an ice cube tray so that whenever I need to make a pizza, I just thaw one or two cubes in a small bowl for use. Once frozen, you can store the cubes in an air tight ziplock bag in the freezer. If you are using pizza sauce or any tomato-based pasta sauce, do note that the tomato sauce will likely stain your ice cube tray. I purchased a S$2 ice cube tray from the thrift store (Daiso) just to freeze the tomato sauces because I do not want to stain the ice cube trays that comes with my fridge.
3) Toppings
Mushroom Pita Pizza
You can use nearly anything for your pizza toppings. You can come up with a theme (such as Hawaiian, Japanese, vegetarian, spicy) and see what creations you can come up with.
Some ingredients (such as ham, pineapple & bell pepppers) do not need pre-cooking while some (such as seafood) will benefit from pre-cooking before being used as pizza topping.
Don’t forget the cheese. The most popular cheese for pizza is mozzarella cheese. You can use other types of cheese such as cheddar, parmesan and romano, or a combination. They need to be grated or shredded before use (or you can buy pre-shredded).
4) Tools
You need an oven to bake the pizza and a flat oven-safe tray (I use a cookie tray). A toaster oven might also work if the ingredients do not need pre-cooking; you just have to make sure all the cheese melts. You also need a pizza cutter to slice the pizza.
Directions (Step by step photos)
1. Place a piece of pita bread (I am using 13 cm/5 in wholemeal here) on a flat oven-safe tray (I am using a cookie tray).
2. Spread some pizza sauce (you can also use tomato-based pasta sauce which was what I used in this case) evenly over the pita bread using the back of your spoon.
3. Add toppings of your choice (I’m making Hawaiian pizza here, and hence the pineapples & ham), followed by a layer of shredded cheese (I am using mozzarella here), followed by more toppings over the cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven of 200C (392F) for roughly 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Serve with tobasco sauce and grated parmesan cheese if you like.
List of Pita Pizza Recipes
(links will be updated when the recipes are posted)
– Hawaiian Pita Pizza
– Vegetarian Pita Pizza
– Mushroom Lover Pita Pizza
– Seafood Pita Pizza
You said you bought the pita bread from NTUC, can I know the brand please?
Is it from frozen section?
Love your blog!
Thanks – Mel
Hi Mel, I’m sorry I can’t remember the brand. It’s usually placed in the bread section. Some NTUCs which are bigger, they have a small section just for putting pita bread, tortilla wraps etc. You can also find it at Carrefoure and Cold Storage, but CS is a bit more expensive. At Shing Sheong supermarket, the bread is placed in the freezer. Hope this helps :)
I m really impressed – it looks really easy… i m definitely going to try it out..but first i need to get a good oven. Can u give me some advice what brand of oven r u using? is a microwave oven good enough to get this effect?
thanks!
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A friend of mine did a weight class through the hospital he worked at and they used whole wheat lawash, spread a tiny amount of oil in a fry pan. Put in the lawash, add tomato paste (or sauce) but paste is better due to much lower sodium – spices as desired. (oregano, basil, garlic etc.) Use low or no fat cheese; Add pre-sauteed or microwaved onions, green peppers and mushroom slices. Can top off with a hint of parmesan cheese. Put the lid on the frying pan and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. This is very good, gives the flavor of pizza and much lower in calories.
hi, where do u buy pita bread?
Hi Wiffy,
Is there a specific brand if pita bread u buy? I hv used other brands of ready made Pizza dough which are so so. Anyway, have u ever tried using oath as a topping? It gives a total different kick altogether ;-) try it with shrimps or squid rings…… Michelle
Great recipe, going to send this to my daughter at college. Wonderful website, thanks.
Hi, where can we buy the pita bread , or how can we make the pita bread ? and where to get the pizza sauce? from ntuc? which brands you using ? thanks.
Thanks for these ideas! I’ve tried and it’s really good. It tasted like real pizza if not even tastier as I find those from restaurants a little bland. Great recipes!
So obviously this post is at least a couple years old but I just stumbled upon it today. The reason being is I was in the process of making a personnel fajita pita pizza (ok so yes I kind of have a habit of making up recipes, I like to create with flavors that I love) anyhow I am on a weightloss journey. I’ve already lost 32lbs in 4 months and I’m always searching ways to eat good foods that I crave still having great flavor but cutting out calories! I live alone so sometimes cooking for one gets old. I don’t like to cook up huge dinners and then be the only one to enjoy it but I love to cook and eat :) my favorite foods are Mexican and pizza. If there’s anything better than either it’s to combine the two! So i have a recipe that is less calories than most , very simple with little cleanup and it was as follows: 1 pre-made mini pizza crust, fat free refried beans mixed with chopped green chiles, sliced cooked chicken (I cook it in a frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and seasonings) low fat cheese, salsa and fresh chopped cilantro. You just spread the beans with chiles on crust top with chicken n cheese n bake then when cheese is melted take out of oven and spread on salsa and sprinkle with fresh cilantro! I promise it taste like heaven on a plate! Problem being that even though the topping has little enough calories the crust alone was 380cal! Forcing me to only allow myself half and trust me! 1/2 is not enough! That being said I found some pre-made pita bread at the store that was about the same size in diameter as the mini pizza crusts. They were 60 cal. per bread! So today I am craving my pizza. I didn’t have any fresh cilantro but I had a bell pepper and some sweet onion that needed to be used. So I sliced my chicken (fajita style) added it with my sliced bell pepper and onionadded some lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and mesquite grill mates seasoning in a frying pan with 0cal. I can’t believe it’s not butter and cooked thoroughly. Mixed my beans n green chiles and open my pita bread. I have never cooked with them before so i proceeded to look it up which got me to this site! So I proceeded to add my topping as I would with my original recipe and cooked as this site said. Topped it with some taco sauce and it was to die for! Best part. I saved 320 cal. PLUS got to eat the whole thing! This was a fun post! Thanks to it’s owner :)